Trunk.



PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904.

E. .W. HAWLEY.

' TRUNK.

APPLICATION rum) 00115. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1T0 MODEL.

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PATENT'ED JUNE 23, 1904. E. w. HAWLEY.

TRUNK.

APPLIUATION FILED 0011.15, 1903.

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UNITED STATES Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

TRUNK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,395, dated June 28, 1904.

Application filed October 15, 1903- To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE W. HAWLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trunks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has especial reference to the means for hinging and supporting the trays of trunks; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts, as will be fully set forth hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a partlysectional View of a trunk embodying my said invention with the cover and tray raised and the latter locked in raised position. Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the same parts with the cover and tray in lowered position. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, partly in section, on the line 3 3 in said figure. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the tray-supporting device, partly in section,

on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the tray-hinge.

Referring by numerals to the drawings, 1 indicates a trunk-body, and 2 the cover thereof, secured together by hinges 3 and strips of fabric 4, as is common in the art. The interior of the trunk-body is equipped with the usual strips 5 5 for holding the tray 6 when the latter is down in position to enable the trunk to be closed, and adjacent to these strips are arc-shaped wear-plates 7 7, preferably of sheet metal, secured against the inner surfaces of the trunk ends, against which the ends of the tray-supporting device travel when said tray is raised or lowered, as hereinafter described.

It is desirable that the tray should be securely hinged to the trunk when in placev therein, but readily detachable therefrom, and to that endI have devised the separable hinges shown in detail in Figs. 5 and 6. The upper hinge member (shown in Fig. 6) comprises a flat plate 8, with a loop 9 projecting at a right angle from the lower end of said plate, the rod of said loop forming the pintle of the hinge Serial N0.-l'77,127. (No model.)

and the plate 8 constituting the leaf, which is secured, as by rivets, to the bottom wall of the tray 6. The lower member of said hinge (shown in Fig. 5) consists of two plates 10 11,

of spring sheet metal, preferably of corresponding size and shape, and which when riveted together and to the trunk-body form the lower leaf of said hinge, the upper ends of said plates 10 11 converging to form a guide for the offset rod or pintle of the hinge and the plate 11 being outwardly beaded, as shown at 12, to form a seat for said rod or pintle, and on account of the described hinge rod or pintle being offset, as described, when the tray is raised up its bottom wall will rise up and pass completely over the top of the back of the trunk-body, as best shown in Fig. 1.

.When the trunk-tray is thus raised, it will be supported in this elevated position by means of the device best shown in Figs. 3 and 4, consisting in its preferred form of two plates 13 14, the front plate 14 being longitudinally beaded to form when the plates are put together a tube 15, open at each end and formed with two longitudinal slots 16 17 adjacent to its center, the said two plates being riveted together and to the front wall of the tray close to its bottom wall. Within the described tube are two rods 18 19, terminating in opposed reduced inner ends 20 21, which are surrounded by the ends of a spiral spring 24, which spring tends to always throw said rods 18 19 outward beyond the ends of the tube 15,while passing through the described slots 16 17 are the shanks of the finger-pieces 22 23, which shanks enter holes in the opposed ends of the said rods 18 19, and hence by drawing said finger-pieces toward each other the rods 18 19 will be withdrawn within the tube 15. It will thus be seen that when the tray 6 is raised it will by reason of the described offset hinges be raised up completely over the back of the trunk-body 2, the outer ends of the rods 18 19 meanwhile traveling over the wearplates 7 7 and as soon as the said tray rises to an approximately vertical position the said rods will escape above the top line of the ends of the trunk-body and be forcedout by the spring 24, as best shown in Fig. 3, and thus hold the tray in its raised position until the linger-pieces 22 23 are drawn toward each other, when the tray will at once fall, with the ends of. the rods 18 19 traveling along the wear-plates 7 7 until the tray rests again on the strips 5 5; but owing to the described separable nature of the tray-hinges the said tray can at any time be detached therefrom and lifted out, whether it is in a raised or lowered position.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a trunk-body, and a tray hinged thereto, of a tube secured to the front wall of said tray; a pair of rods in said tube; and a spring for forcing said rods outward, as the tray is raised above the top line of the trunk-body.

2. The combination with a trunk-body, having wear-plates on the inner surface of its ends, of a tray hinged to the inner surface of the back of said trunk-body; a slotted tube secured to the front wall of said tray, a pair of rods in said tube, whose outer ends bear against said wear-plates; a spring between the inner ends of said rods for forcing them outward beyond the ends of the tube; and fingerpieces secured to said rods, and projecting through the slots in the said tube, for withdrawing said rods within the limits of the said tube.

3. The combination with a trunk-body, and a tray secured thereto by separable offset hinges, of a tube secured to the front wall of said tray, and carrying spring-actuated stoprods adapted to rest on top of the ends of the trunk-body when the tray is raised and while it is being detached.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of VViseonsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE W. HAVVLEY.

Witnesses H. G. UNDERwooD, HUoo FAHL. 

